It's funny that though I consider the 1987 Canada Cup 3-game final one of the defining moments of my hockey fandom I could care less about this event. I barely watched the World Cup last time. Maybe 4 periods total.
For best on best I want the Olympics. The 2002 and 2010 games are also an important part of my fandom. The World Cup now feels like a players-in-pre-season-form cash grab that makes the season extra long for star players. It doesn't grow the game anywhere that it isn't already established.
The Olympics do. I know the NHL claims that they don't but I am not buying it. The Olympics get noticed. I was living in Spain in 92 and 94 and many people wanted me to explain hockey to them. They were thrilled by the speed and "violence". I lived in Germany but spent much of my work week in Poland, Russia, Czech Republic and Hungary during the '98 Olympics and I was continually asked about curling.
The fledgling northern Spanish hockey league now has double the number of teams and the Spanish play in lower-division IIHF events. The Russians and Czechs put teams in the Curling Worlds with some regularity now. There's a 3-sheet curling rink in Poznan, Poland now and I believe one was being built in Zakopane as part of a future Olympic bid. The Olympics and the international federations grew these sports there, not something like the NHL/NHLPA hosting an event that is mostly aimed at Canadians and the already converted fans of northern Europe and the northern US.
It wouldn't bother me if another World Cup never occurs but if the NHLers aren't at the next Olympics I will not be happy.
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